I am sure you have already heard of Bob Marzano, as he is author or co-author of very many important books in education, including Classroom Instruction that Works, which has sold more copies than any other book about education. He and a colleague from McREL, Tim Waters, are about to publish a book about school [...]
I was inspired by my good friend Jonathan Grubb to write about the books that have inspired me. OK, I have a confession to make: I wrote this synopsis quite a while ago to use with the various groups with whom I work. Is that cheating? Whether it is or not, this is a [...]
I know that there are now a good many people who read my blog, and I have evidence from today’s inbox that many of you are checking your email even though you are in theory on vacation.
To all of you who read my blog and think about what I say, thank you.
Sometimes I manage to [...]
I just came back from Heritage’s Second quarter graduation. It’s the first time I’ve been to one, and it was touching and familial, and so unlike a regular high school graduation. Our typical image of high school is of the comprehensive high schools like Brighton High School and Prairie View. We ask them to be [...]
I should give credit to Marcus Buckingham for this very useful construct of The One Thing (and to Will Pierce for introducing me to Marcus Buckingham). It must be annoying to authors when their books are summarized in a sentence; nevertheless, the idea is that the single most important thing that leaders can provide is [...]
I had a great revelation at the principals meeting this morning. As I hope you know, we are working towards a district-wide approach to instruction, because we know that high performing districts are very tightly organized around a research-based instructional system. (Bob Marzano and Tim Waters have a book on the subject coming out any [...]
This is the text of my commendation of South, Southeast, and West Ridge Elementaries to the Board tonight. I want to thank Kay, Brett, and Mike for being at the Board meeting, and take the opportunity to mention that when they were asked about the secret of their schools’ successes, they all talked about the [...]
We have known for a long time that we want to have district common assessments so that teachers can use the information. As it says in the Instructional Model, which is more idealistic than descriptive sometimes, “Teachers work in teams to review student data on achievement. They use this information to make decisions [...]
I have often asked the groups I work with to identify the one thing they are going to focus on in their work. Here’s what I would say if you asked me.
If I had to distill all the things we are trying to do in Student Achievement to the one most important thing, I would [...]
